Battery casting of concrete panels

ABSTRACT

A concrete casting assembly including at least one battery of Ltype mould members preferably with an overhead gantry providing a chute of rectangular C-shape which can be located over different mould spaces of the battery. The mould members are arranged in the battery one within the other so as to have the adjacent edges of the adjacent arms of the mould members alined with one another in respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined by an angle of 45* to the plane containing the corner edges of the mould members. The mould members are preferably of steel construction.

United States Patent Cross [54] BATTERY CASTING OF CONCRETE PANELS [72] Inventor: Walter Peter Cross, 44 Green Dell Way, Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead, l-lertfordshire, England 22 Filed: Nov. 18, 1969 211 Appl.No.: 877,749

52 U.S. C1. ..249/129,212/130, 249/79, 249/119, 249/156 51 Int. Cl. ..B28b 7/02 [58] Field of Search ..249/119, 130, 129,132, 155, 249/156,l60,l61,162,192,193,194,189,

CF, 131 P, DIG. 10;212/l3, 14,130

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,480,098 1/1924 Mulqueen et al. ..249/27 X 3,482,710 12/1969 Wodl et al. ..212/130 1,642,247 9/1927 Krause ..249/ 129 X 51 Oct. 31, 1972 Henderson ..249/119 X 2,948,926 8/1960 Kiihn ..25/DIG. 10 3,292,216 12/ 1966 Colombo ..249/ 158 X 3,360,231 12/1967 Van Hezik ..249/129 Primary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-Dewalden W. Jones Attorney-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [5 7] ABSTRACT A concrete casting assembly including at least one battery of L-type mould members preferably with an overhead gantry providing a chute of rectangular C- shape which can be located over different mould spaces of the battery. The mould members are arranged in the battery one within the other so as to have the adjacent edges of the adjacent arms of the mould members alined with one another in respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined by an angle of 45 to the plane containing the corner edges of the mould members. The mould members are preferably of steel construction.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures BATTERY CASTING OF CONCRETE PANELS The present invention relates to the casting of panels and in particular to the battery casting of concrete panels.

According to the present invention, a concrete casting assembly includes a battery for casting concrete panels, the battery comprising a plurality of mold members each having two mutually orthogonal arm portions presenting substantially vertical mold faces, said mold members being adapted to be arranged one within the other so as to have the adjacent edges of the adjacent arms of the mold members alined with one another in respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined at an angle of 45 to the planecontaining the corner edges of the mold members.

In order that the present invention may be more fully understood, an embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIGS. 1(L) and 1(R) are a plan view of a concrete castingassembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2(R) and 2(L)) are a side view of the assembly of FIGS. 1(L) and 1(R);

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along the line III-II in FIG. 2(L);

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inside of a mold member for use in the assembly of FIGS. 1 to 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of the complete assembly; and

FIG. 6 shows the hydraulic circuit for lifting rams for moving the mold member during demolding.

' Thus referring first to FIGS. 1 to 3, a concrete casting assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a first battery 10 of L-shaped mold members 11, a second battery 10 of mold members 12' of reversed L-shape i.e. L-shaped when viewed from below, and an overhead gantry 14 for loading the batteries with the material to be cast i.e. concrete mix. The outer dimensions of the batteries in the illustrated example are 16 foot long, 8 foot 10 inches high and 8 foot wide but clearly these dimensions are not limiting to the invention which extends to assemblies using any other sizes of mold.

The advantage of using L-shaped panels in construction work has now been widely recognized and the illustrated assembly provides a compact apparatus suitable for casting L-type panels of varying shape and size. The mold members 12 in the battery 10' are substantially the same as their counterparts in the battery 10 except that they are of reversed L-shape (as above defined) instead of being L-shaped when viewed in plan. The purpose of providing an assembly in which L- type panels of both kinds may be produced is to avoid the necessity of inverting an L-type panel of one kind if one of another kind is required. The importance of this feature from the handling point of view will be manifest to those skilled in the art. For the purpose of this description, parts in or relating to the battery 10' and illustrated in the drawings will be identified with their counterparts for the battery 10 by using corresponding primed reference numerals e.g. mold members 12' in battery 10' correspond to mold members 12 in battery 10. It should be borne in mind in this respect that battery 10' is nothing more than the mirrorimage of battery 10 about the vertical plane EE of FIG. 1.

Thus in more detail, the battery 10 (10) of FIGS. I to 3 comprises a plurality of L-type mold members 12 (12) arranged one within the other (as best seen from FIG. 1). Each mold member 12(12') has two mutually orthogonal arm portions 14 and 16 which present substantially vertical molding faces to the mold spaces 22 defined between adjacent mold members.

Adjacent edges 24, 26 of the arm portions l4, 16 are aligned with one another in mutually orthogonal vertical planes (A-A, B--B for battery 10), inclined at an angle of 45 to the vertical plane (CC for battery 10) containing the corner edges of the mold members. In practice the actual arm lengths of the panels to be molded can be varied from those of the mold members by means of adjustable end stops 28 also shown in FIG. 4.

These stops consist of hollow metal beams 30 faced with a permanent timber former 32 to which is secured a replaceable timber former 34. In the assembly illustrated the horizontal width of the mold spaces 22 is four inches and the corresponding dimension of the beams 30 and permanent formers 32 is three inches whilst that of the replaceable former 34 is 3 15/16 inches. The formers 32 are grooved along their lengths and carry circular neoprene rubber seals 36 sealing the stops 28 against the adjacent faces of the mold members 14 when the battery is assembled for casting.

The stops 28 are held in place against the pressure of concrete in the mold spaces during casting by spacer tubes 38 attached at one end to the stops 28 and at the other to slotted channel members 40 using an appropriate adjustment screw and lock nut. As will be clear from FIG. 1, the channel members are in each case secured to the larger of the two mold members defining the mold space concerned. The positions of the end stops 28 is determined by the choice of spacer tube(s) 38 and these tubes are conveniently manufactured in 6", 12", 2', 4, and 8' lengths. FIG. 1 shows spacer tubes of different lengths in use in the battery 10. The adjustment screw gives a further 6 inches of ad justment.

At their bases, the mold members carry baseboards 39 of similar construction to the end stops 28 and with their component parts similarly referenced in the drawings. These baseboards rest on the open grid of the battery base frame. If it is desired to reduce the vertical width of the mold space below the value that one baseboard would provide then a second baseboard 41 (which may be of rectangular cross section if desired) is placed on the first as most clearly shown in FIG. 3.

A composite molding block (43 in FIG. 4) is secured to the timber facing of the longest of the two baseboards associated with each mold space. This block has an upper portion which can be removed after casting to allow a lifting hook to be inserted beneath the panel. This block and the associated lifting tackle is the subject of a co-pending U.S.A. Patent application filed on the same date as the present Application under the title Lifting Apparatus with Mr. Carroll named as inventor. As an alternative, the panel may be cast with lifting loops e.g. extending from a reinforcement cage 45' and these are connected to a corresponding L- shaped lifting frame which is itself lifted by a conventional crane or gantry system. Different lifting frames may be provided for different sizes of mold member or one frame with a number of appropriately spaced loops for engagement by the crane or gantry system may be used, the positions of these loops corresponding to the centers of gravity of these various panels. 1

The innermost mold members are provided with stiffening trusses 69 to support these members against bending during casting. The longest side of the battery is flanked by A-frames 70 of the framework 11 and the arm portions of the outmost datum mold member are rigidly secured to these A-frarnes by appropriate bolts. The other mold members of the batteries are urged towards the datum member by hydraulic rams 72 (in the case of battery acting between the base part of framework 11 and appropriate abutment plates 74 secured to the innermost mold member of thelbattery These 'rams act in planes parallel tothe plane C-C above identified. Additional clamping between the mold members is provided by tie bolts 76, passing through spacer tubes 75 (75) which are secured by angle brackets 78 to the top edges of the mold members 12 (12). As will be seen from FIG. 1, the spacer tube 75 associated with eachmold member extends from that member over the outwardly adjacent mold space 22. It will beseen that the rams 72 engage the abutment plates 74 in vertical planes containing the points of attachment of the innermost mold members to the middle tie-bolts 76 and these rams are assisted by hydraulic rams 77 acting perpendicularly to the mold arms 14, 16 of batteries 10 adjacent the terminal tierods for the batteries. The rams 77 are double-acting through rod" rams of the double rod end cylinder type.

With the exception of the innermost mold member of each battery, clamping is conpleted by a number of latches (reference numerial 79 for battery 10) connecting together pairs of adjacent mold members at their ends. The importance of these latches will become apparent when the operation of the battery is described.

The detailed construction of the individual mold memberis probably best understood with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. As above explained the mold members 12 will have identical constructions to members 12 except that they will be of true L-section when viewed in plan instead of reversed L-section.

Thus the walls of the mold members (except the innermost) are made of r inch steel plate secured to a hollow steel girder construction 80 passing horizontally and vertically betweenthe mold members walls to give them rigidity and close the inter-wall space. The innermost wall of the battery is %ths steel plate with one inch polystyrene on its inside face.

In addition to the girder construction above described, the mold members contain heating pipes each having an inlet'pipe (81 for battery 10) at the top of the battery for connection with an appropriate steam manifold. A corresponding outlet pipe (82 for battery 10) is located at the bottom of the battery and the heating pipe is disposed within the mold member for eight horizontal runs passing from end to end of the mold member and interconnected by vertical pipe sections at alternate ends of the member. The temperature of the mold members can be raised in this way during casting to accelerate the setting process.

In addition to supporting the baseboards and mold members, the framework 11 includes a number of stanchions 1 50 supporting a pair of specially strengthened mono rails 154, 155 on which the gantry 14 is free to move from one end of the assembly to the other. The rails 154 lock the gantry 14 against transverse movement and the stanchions for these rails are therefore braced to give the system rididity.

In more detail, the gantry 14 includes a carriage 158 providing the four wheels (160) which support the gantry on the rails 154, and a loading platform 162 which runs on a pair of mono rails 164 transversely mounted on the carriage 158. The wheels are arranged to be driven by a double shaft electric motor 166 for movement of the gantry (along rails 154, 155) lengthwise of the assembly, and the platform wheels (168) are arranged to be driven by a geared double shaft electric motor 170 for movement of the platform 162 (along rails 164) transversely of the carriage 158. Both motors are provided with magnetic brakes which come on automatically when the motors are stopped.

As may best be seen from FIG. 1, the carriage 158 includes a work space 172 for personel and this terminates on three sides in a chute 174 of a rectangular C-shape when viewed in plan. In vertical section (FIGS. 2 and 3), the chute tapers to a discharge slot 176 of width less than the width (four inches) of the mold spaces in the batteries 10, 10'.

A control box for the motors 166, 170 is available for personel on the work space 172 where a number of hydraulic lifting rams are also stored for lifting the mold members 12 during demolding. In operation these rams are located across the chute 174 (see for example ram 177' in FIG. 1), and a chain from the ram extends through the slot 176 for attachment with eye bolts 178 extending from the upper edges of the mold members.

The rams are connected in series with one another as far as their hydraulic actuating fluid is concerned i.e. the rams are designed so that each ram as it is actuated expels the actuating fluid for the following ram. This ensures that evenly distributed lifting forces can be applied simultaneously along the upper edges of the mold members during demolding.

Vibrators for agitating the mix are also stored in the work space 172 and these may be inserted through the slot 176 into the concrete mix as required.

The assembly of the present invention may also be used for producing flat panels by placing an end stop 28 at the junction of the two arms of the mold spaces.

In setting up the assembly above described, the individual separated mold members of the batteries 10, 10 are located on the open grid of the base frame and are fitted with their associated baseboards 39, 39 and end stops 28, 28' at positions consistent with the sizes of the various panels to be cast. If necessary reinforcement cages 45, 45' are inserted in the mould spaces 22, 22 (FIG. 4) and the hydraulic rams 72 are actuated to urge the various displaceable mold members against the datum (outer) mold member. Rams 77 are then actuated and the locking nuts on tie bolts 76 are screwed tight. Clamping is completed by locking the latches 79 to hold pairs of adjacent mold members together. It will of course be understood that clamping the mold members together brings the end stop 28, 28' and the baseboards 39, 39' into sealing engagement with their associated mold members so as to present between pairs of adjacent mold members 12 a corresponding number of mold spaces 22.

With the batteries 10, thus assembled, the motor 166 is operated to move the gantry 14 to a position over the first battery 10 with the shorter portion of discharge slot 176 over the shorter arm of the outer mold space22 in that battery. If necessary, the second motor 170 is then operated to move the platform 162 transversely so as to bring the chute over the longer portion of the outer mold space in battery 10. When this operation is completed, two arms of the discharge slot 176 are positioned exactly over the outer mold space.

Loading of the mold space is then carried out using conventional plant, a crane or overhead gantry system being used to lift the usual skip of concrete mix over the chute 176. An operative on the work space 172 then opens the gate of the skip and concrete pours through the chute into the mold space. For the longest mold space, three skip loads will normally be needed to fill the space. The fact that the mold members are made of steel plate construction rather than concrete, means that special precautions need not be taken never to have more than some pre-established difference of concrete level between adjacent mold spaces since the steel mold members are well able to withstand any pressure differentials across them which might result if one mold space be filled completely before filling of the adjacent'mold space(s) is begun.

Pouring of the concrete into the first mold space having been completed, the concrete is then agitated with vibrators to compact the concrete.

When this last stop has been carried out, the motor 166 is started to move the carriage over the second battery 10' to a position in which two lengths of the discharge slot are located over the outside mold space of that battery. Concrete is then poured into that mold space through the chute as before and vibrators are again used to agitate the concrete to rid it of air holes and gaps.

After casting of the largest panel of reversed L-shape has been completed in this way, the motors 166 and 170 are operated to bring the discharge slot over the second largest mold space in battery 10' and when the associated slab has been cast and compacted the motor 166 is used to bring the discharge slot over the second largest mold space in battery 10. After casting and vibration the two motors are used to bring the slot over the next mold space of battery 10, then the corresponding mold space of battery 10' and so on.

When all the mold spaces have been filled with concrete and this has been compacted with the vibrators as above described, then the fillings are left to set for about twelve to eighteen hours depending on the season. If the mold members are steam heated this time may be shortened to about six hours or so. In this latter case the mold members will be raised to temperatures of typically 60 to 70C and up to 75C using the inlet and outlet pipes 81, 82 which are connected up to an appropriate steam manifold (not shown). With the size of batteries described above and using a conventional concrete mixer, the speed of operation of the assembly is usually decided by the speed at which the mix can be prepared and the skip unloaded into the chute 176. Thus the actual casting time can best be shortened by speeding up one or both of these two operations e. g. by using more mixers and a conveyor system for continuously feeding concrete straight from the mixer(s) into the chute. Alternatively pre-mixed concrete can be pumped directly to chute 176.

When the panels have set in the mold spaces 22, the various hydraulic rams are simultaneously withdrawn, the tie bolts 76 and spacers are removed, and the adjustment screws for spacers 38 are unlocked from channel members 40 to allow withdraw] of the end stops 28.

The gantry 14 is then positioned (using motors 166, so the lifting rams 177 can be connected up with eye bolts 178 of the innermost mold member. Rams 177 are then actuated to lift the mold member a small distance, and motor 166 is used to move this member away from the rest of the mold whereafter it is replaced on the base frame by rams 177.

With the innermost concrete panel of the battery thus exposed, the upper part of block 43 may be removed as described in said co-pending Patent Application and the lifting device there described and claimed may be used to move the panel to some convenient place. Alternatively if blocks 43 are omitted, a conventional crane or overhead gantry (not shown) may be used to convey the panel to some appropriate place using the lifting loops above referred to.

This operation completed, the latch 79 for the next mold member is unlatched and this is removed in the same way as above described for the first mold member. The newly exposed panel is then removed using one of the two methods above referred to and this process is repeated until all the panels in the two batteries have been demolded.

I claim:

1. A concrete casting assembly including a battery for casting concrete panels, the battery comprising:

a plurality of adjacent mould members each having two mutually orthogonal arm portions presenting substantially vertical mould faces with one portion being of longer length in plan than the other arm portion, the arms of each mould member being smaller than the adjacent arms of the preceding adjacent mould member so that said mould members are adapted to be arranged one within the other with the adjacent and edges of the adjacent arms of the mould members aligned with one another in one of two respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined at an angle of 45 to the plane containing the corner edges of the mould members, said assembly when viewed in plan comprises a battery of L-shaped members and a battery of reversed L-shaped members, first arm portions comprising the longer arm portions in one battery being arranged to lie substantially in common planes with the corresponding arm portions in the other battery, and second arm portions comprising the shorter arm portions in both said batteries being arranged to lie parallel to one another and on the same side of the particular common plane containing their associated first arm portions further including an overhead gantry comprising a rectangular C-shaped leading chute for the introduction of material into either of the two mould batteries, and drive means for moving the gantry over the upper surfaces of the mould batteries in directions parallel to the plane containing the comer edges of the mould members to align the loading chute with a mould space in the batteries. 2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 including lifting rams adapted to be mounted over said chute, and means adapted to extend through saidchute for connecting said rams with a mould member of the battery.

3. A concrete casting assembly including a battery for casting concrete panels, the battery comprising a plurality of adjacent mould members each having two mutually orthogonal arm portions presenting substantially vertical mould faces, the arms of each mould member being smaller than the adjacent arms of the preceding adjacent mould member so that said mould members are adapted to be arranged one within the other with the adjacent end edges of the adjacent arms of the mould members aligned with one another in one of two respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined at an angle of 45 to the plan containing the corner edges of the mould members and a rectangular C-shaped loadingv chute for introducing material into either of the two mould batteries and drive means for moving the chute over the upper surfaces of the mould batteries in directions parallel to the plane containing the comer edges of the mould members to align the chute with a mould space in the batteries, said assembly when viewed in plan comprising a battery of L-shaped members and a battery of reversed L-shaped members, first arm portions comprising the longer arm portions in one battery being arranged to lie substantially in common planes with the corresponding arm portions in the other battery, and second arm portions comprising the shorter arm portions in both said batteries being arranged to lie parallel to one another and on the same side of the particular common plane containing their associated first arm portions.

4. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the mould members include ducting for steam heating the mould members.

5. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the mould members are associated with adjustable endstops delimiting the narrow vertical surfaces of the mould spaces, ram means being provided for adjusting the position of said stops to provide a mould space of predetermined size.

6. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the 'mould members are associated with baseboards providing the bottom surfaces of the mould spaces, said baseboards providing means for altering the vertical width of the mould spaces by choosing an appropriate baseboard assembly for that mould space. 

1. A concrete casting assembly including a battery for casting concrete panels, the battery comprising: a plurality of adjacent mould members each having two mutually orthogonal arm portions presenting substantially vertical mould faces with one portion being of longer length in plan than the other arm portion, the arms of each mould member being smaller than the adjacent arms of the preceding adjacent mould member so that said mould members are adapted to be arranged one within the other with the adjacent and edges of the adjacent arms of the mould members aligned with one another in one of two respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined at an angle of 45* to the plane containing the corner edges of the mould members, said assembly when viewed in plan comprises a battery of L-shaped members and a battery of reversed L-shaped members, first arm portions comprising the longer arm portions in one battery being arranged to lie substantially in common planes with the corresponding arm portions in the other battery, and second arm portions comprising the shorter arm portions in both said batteries being arranged to lie parallel to one another and on the same side of the particular common plane containing their associated first arm portions further including an overhead gantry comprising a rectangular C-shaped leading chute for the introduction of material into either of the two mould batteries, and drive means for moving the gantry over the upper surfaces of the mould batteries in directions parallel to the plane containing the corner edges of the mould members to align the loading chute with a mould space in the batteries.
 2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 including lifting rams adapted to be mounted over said chute, and means adapted to extend through said chute for connecting said rams with a mould member of the battery.
 3. A concrete casting assembly including a battery for casting concrete panels, the battery comprising a plurality of adjacent mould members each having two mutually orthogonal arm portions presenting substantially vertical mould faces, the arms of each mould member being smaller than the adjacent arms of the preceding adjacent mould member so that said mould members are adapted to be arranged one within the other with the adjacent end edges of the adjacent arms of the mould members aligned with one another in one of two respective mutually orthogonal planes each inclined at an angle of 45* to the plan containing the corner edges of the mould members and a rectangular C-shaped loading chute for introducing material into either of the two mould batteries and drive means for moving the chute over the upper surfaces of the mould batteries in directions parallel to the plane containing the corner edges of the mould members to align the chute with a mould space in the batteries, said assembly when viewed in plan comprising a battery of L-shaped members and a battery of reversed L-shaped members, first arm portions comprising the longer arm portions in one battery being arranged to lie substantially in common planes with the corresponding arm portions in the other battery, and second arm portions comprising the shorter arm portions in both said batteries being arranged to lie parallel to one another and on the same side of the particular common plane containing their associated first arm portions.
 4. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the mould members include ducting for steam heating the mould members.
 5. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the mould members are associated with adjustable end-stops delimiting the narrow vertical surfaces of the mould spaces, ram means being provided for adjusting the position of said stops to provide a mould space of predetermined size.
 6. An assembly as claimed in claim 3 in which the mould members are associated with baseboards providing the bottom surfaces of tHe mould spaces, said baseboards providing means for altering the vertical width of the mould spaces by choosing an appropriate baseboard assembly for that mould space. 